Thursday 8 December 2005
ABC News Online

The final round of public consultation on plans to start up Australia's new nuclear reactor will be held in Sydney today.

The Opal research reactor is expected to replace the current reactor, which has been operating in southern Sydney since 1958.

The $360 million reactor and science facility is close to completion and testing without nuclear fuel may begin early next year.

That testing and conclusions from today's hearings will feed into the Australian Radiation Protection Authority's decision on granting an operation licence.

That will allow the reactor to start operating with nuclear fuel by mid-2006.

The Australian Nuclear Association says research reactors have a good safety record and the new Opal reactor would pose little danger to staff or local residents, even in the event of an accident.

Opponents will express concerns about the safe transport of nuclear waste through Sydney and regional areas.

High level waste may go to the United States, low and medium level waste is meant to go to a federal dump in the Northern Territory.

However, many submissions point out it is neither selected nor operational.

Greenpeace has outlined its opposition to the nuclear reactor.

Greenpeace campaigner James Courtney told the forum the organisation opposed the reactor because it was concerned about security and how the radioactive waste would be stored.

"There is no proven safe method for storing the radioactive waste that a second reactor will produce and for keeping that waste safe for the length of time that it will be dangerous," he said.

"Greenpeace opposes the granting of an operating licence for the reactor because we firmly believe that the proliferation of nuclear technology poses risks to the health, safety and security of the people of this planet."